Saturday, October 9, 2010

What's the big secret?

So the reporter in me wonders what's the the big deal? Why did two Regional School Committee Chairs refuse to release current Interim Superintendent of Schools Maria Geryk's resume to elected members of the Amherst School Committee?

I'm told an interested party--who also happens to be an attorney--requested the resume in writing and was rebuffed. They however, did not use the magic words: "Public Documents Request."

Ms. Geryk recently updated her resume, but that one only becomes a public document if she applies and becomes a finalist for the current position she occupies, Superintendent of Schools--the highest paid public employee in Amherst.

She could easily, however, have it released now.

Thus, I would have thought she would desire the newer-and-presumably-improved resume released; but hey, that's just me--an unemployed blogger with a lowly Umass Bachelor's degree.

This is NOT the resume of someone with any depth of experience. No other school district would hire someone with such a narrow focus and lack of experience on their resume as their superintendent of schools. No other district, of course, except Amherst. Thank you for printing this Larry.

I hate the people in Amherst. They villify outsiders as not getting this town and rebuff their recommendations, but then try and engage in a game of personal destruction against a local product. They don't want to spend money, but its okay to spend 100k on a search. The contradictions are large and obvious. It comes down to this with most of the decision makers in this town and the maniacal posters on this board; If they like you personally and you can provide them validation for their own failed agenda, you are the perfect choice. If they don't like you or someone who supports you, it becomes an evil game within the politics of personal destruction. All to drive home personal vendettas or further one's own political agenda. There is no doing it for the common good or doing it for the school children. There is only people doing it for their own egos, as they overdose on their own delusions of grandeur, based on feigned power in a declining community that is the laughing stock of most of the rest of the state. I am ashamed to live here and ashamed of the adults who act more like the children, then the children they pretend to care about, who are only a muse, to which they use as foil for their true ambitions of greed and power.

Anonymous- Take a look (EOE site) to see who Northampton hired as their Assistant Superintendent- You will see someone with a narrow focus and lack of experience (as well as a lack of work ethic)Isabelina sure is leaving a mess behind as she retires!

Maria has handled our district well through recent superintendent failures and hiring decisions of our school committee (the elderly couple and Alberto) She has does a good job!

"It comes down to this with most of the decision makers in this town and the maniacal posters on this board; If they like you personally and you can provide them validation for their own failed agenda, you are the perfect choice. If they don't like you or someone who supports you, it becomes an evil game within the politics of personal destruction. All to drive home personal vendettas or further one's own political agenda."

Not sure if that is sarcasm or not (sarcasm needs its own special font) but I used a jpeg image directly uploaded to blogger rather than floating it on Google Docs, because you can only increase the blogger image a small amount.

Not even sure if an address needs to be redacted, as you can simply go to Town Hall and use a Street List that as Ed points out also gives out not just name, address and job description--but also Date of Birth.

It is not that she never taught in a regular classroom, it is that she was never even *CERTIFIED* to teach in one.

It is not that she has never been outside SPED, it is that she appears to have never taken any of the classes related to either general education or administration.

This is like saying that someone who never went to law school is qualified to practice law. Exactly how does she know the stuff she is supposed to know in order to be a Supt? I don't care if she never *did* any of it, but how does she even know about it???

I think she needs to explain how she knows about (a) general (nonSPED) instruction, (b) curriculum, (c) supervision & evaluation of teachers, (d) supervision & evaluation of principals, (e) educational policy, and (f) general administration.

I am neither saying she is or isn't qualified, what I am asking is how she knows all the OTHER stuff that she has to know in order to even be presumed to be qualified...

Forget that she never taught, forget that she was never even certified to teach, she never was a building principal or vice principal.

Exactly how is she supposed to know the stuff that those folk do? Or is it that they WANT someone who doesn't know what they do so they can do as they damn well please? A nice polite woman who minds her own business and doesn't tell them what they ought to be doing....

"Exactly how is she supposed to know the stuff that those folk do? Or is it that they WANT someone who doesn't know what they do so they can do as they damn well please? A nice polite woman who minds her own business and doesn't tell them what they ought to be doing..."

Professional educators who value their own autonomy sticking up for professional educators in our public schools who view their autonomy under threat from notions of accountability.

I would take it one step further - UNIONIZED professional educators seeking to neither themselves be held accountable for anything, nor to see anyone else so held.

Know that train that goes through town every day -- it eventually winds up in DC and I have taken it down there a bit -- and change is in the wings. I met George Allen, who brought reform to Virginia schools by essentially firing everyone in entire districts and he could well be our next Secretary of Education.

The other thing that UMass people fail to understand is that we now have something like 17 new public universities in this state, and a lot of them (including Westfield State University) are starting their own doctoral programs.

A lot of things in the education field will be changing soon -- and as to the Amherst schools, either they will get reformed or they will become irrelevant when (a) all the parents with money put their kids in private schools and (b) no one with political power in town have children in the public schools, hence (c) the schools are allowed to run off to ruin, just without any money...